


17+44=...

by snarky_saxophonist



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Bryzzo, Chicago Cubs, I took a brief mental break from NaNoWriMo to write this, M/M, So it's a really quick piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8660608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarky_saxophonist/pseuds/snarky_saxophonist
Summary: Kris had a confession to make to Rizzo, and, while that might have involved a bit of a curveball being thrown his way, he couldn't complain about the end result.





	

It was a lazy Saturday evening during the offseason, and Anthony Rizzo was in a great mood. He and Kris were both back in Chicago, which of course brought back constant reminders of their World Series win, and hanging out at Kris's apartment watching movies left him the most content he'd been in a while.

"Hey, I need to tell you something," Kris said abruptly, pulling away from where he'd been leaning against Rizzo. Anthony frowned at the loss of Kris's warmth, but didn't move.

"What's up? Everything okay?" He asked, studying Kris's suddenly tense posture.

"Please don't hate me," Kris muttered, staring down at his hands.

"Hate you?" Anthony asked, baffled. "Kris, I honestly don't think you could do anything to make me hate you, even if you murdered somebody. What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I'm bisexual," Kris blurted, the words so quick that it took Anthony a moment to decipher them.

"Kris," he said softly, putting a hand on Kris's shoulder. Kris flinched at the touch, but still didn't lift his head from staring resolutely at the floor. "Come on, look at me."

The third baseman slowly lifted his gaze, tensed as if he was expecting a blow. His normally bright blue eyes were guarded and fearful, and Anthony felt sick at the thought of Kris being afraid of him. He pulled Kris into a hug, squeezing him tightly.

"This doesn't change anything," he said fiercely into Kris's hair. "You're my best friend and nothing will change that. You being bi doesn't make you any less of an amazing person, and I would never hate you for this. I love you, you're my best friend and a good man. Don't let anybody ever tell you otherwise, alright?"

"Thank you," Kris choked out, hugging him back just as tightly. "I'm sorry for freaking out, I just..."

"We live in a fucked up world with shitty people who judge things they have no right to and don't understand. But the people who truly won't care about you won't care about this, they'll accept it as just another part of the amazing human being who is Kris Bryant," Anthony frowned. "Wait, hang on... Do you not know about me?"

"Know what about you?" Kris asked.

"I thought you knew," Anthony said. "Although I guess I should've figured out that you didn't by how freaked out you were over coming out to me. Kris, I've been with both guys and girls before. I don't advertise it too much, cause it can make it a bit awkward in the locker room, but I don't exactly hide it either. I don't define it as any particular sexuality, but I'm definitely attracted to both genders."

"Oh," Kris said softly. "No, I didn't know that."

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to hide it from you," Anthony said. "Does anyone other than me know about you?" 

"Nick knows and he's fine with it. I told my mom about it too and it didn't go very well," Kris admitted, his voice barely audible.

"Didn't go very well how?" Anthony asked gently, not releasing Kris from the hug.

"She doesn't... She didn't say she hates me or anything, but she's disappointed. She wanted me to end up with a wife and kids, and telling her that I'm bi and currently in love with a man upset that ideal," Kris said softly, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

"That's her problem, not yours," Anthony told him. "It's your life, and you need to do whatever will make you happy. Your mom loves you, and if she sees that this guy makes you truly happy, she'll come around. Can I ask who the lucky guy is?"

Kris pulled back from the hug like Anthony's touch had set him on fire. Anthony was too surprised to react in time, so he just stared at Kris in confusion as the third baseman practically threw himself across the couch. 

"I'm sorry," Kris gasped, panicking and staring at the floor again. "I didn't mean to say that part, I'm sorry, you can just ignore that please, I won't ever act on it, I don't want this to change our friendship I just didn't want to hide from you anymore, I'm so sorry."

Anthony's brain took several seconds to process Kris's terrified flood of words. "Wait..." He said slowly. "It's... Me?"

Kris nodded once, a jerky, tense movement that had no place belonging to his laid back best friend.

"Breathe, Kris," Anthony said, walking over to kneel in front of Kris's shaking form. "I said nothing was going to change you being my best friend, and I meant it. I don't... I need some time to think about this, but I'm not mad at you or upset in the slightest about this. Don't freak out, it's just me. You've done nothing wrong, okay?"

"I'm sorry," Kris mumbled, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"Don't be sorry. You haven't done anything wrong, okay? I just need a little bit of time to think on this."

"What do you mean, you need a little time? About the me being bi thing or the... Other thing?" Kris asked quietly.

"The you being in love with me thing. I already told you that I'm fine with you being bi," Anthony said.

"Why... Why do you need time to think about that?" Kris asked hesitantly. "I mean, I understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore, but you said..."

"There's no way I'm ever going to stop being your friend," Anthony said firmly. "I just need to think on whether I want to be more than friends with you."

"Um...what?" Kris asked. "You...what?"

"Just give me a little bit of time to think about it, okay?" Anthony said cheerfully, sitting down on the couch next to Kris again. "Now, what do you say we finish this movie?"

"Um, yeah, okay," Kris said, still seeming a bit perplexed. Anthony grabbed the remote and hit play, leaning into Kris's warmth again.

 

Three days later, Anthony walked into the strength room at Wrigley to find Kris already there, earbuds in and sweating profusely.

"Yo, KB!" He called, putting his water bottle and towel down on a bench. Kris didn't look up, intent on his workout and music. Anthony shrugged, deciding to work out and see how long it took Kris to realize that he was no longer alone. He turned on his own music, but at a quieter volume in case Kris said something to him, and settled in to work on the machines.

Fifteen minutes later, Anthony heard a startled "What the hell?" from behind him, and turned to see Kris standing there, having come over to use the same machine he was on.

"Hey, Kris," Anthony said casually, plucking an earbud out. "You should really listen to your music more quietly, you don't want to go deaf at a young age."

"How long have you been here?" Kris demanded, ignoring his snarky comment.

"About fifteen minutes. I wanted to see how long it would take you to notice."

Kris glared at him for a beat, then rolled his eyes. "Well, since you're here, come spot me on the bench press, jerk."

"Good to see you too," Anthony grumbled good-naturedly, following Kris across the room as he loaded up weights onto the bar.

"So," he said, his tone outwardly calm even as he fought to keep his anxiety internalized, lifting the bar with Kris and letting him settle into a steady lifting rhythm. "Want to come to dinner with me tonight?"

"Sure," Kris said, focused more on his workout than their conversation.

"Dress formal, I'm taking you out somewhere nice," Anthony said. "I'll pick you up around seven?"

"I can just meet you there, save some time," Kris replied, not pausing as he lifted the weight again.

"It wouldn't be proper for me to not pick up my date on our first date, would it?" Anthony asked casually. Kris's grip faltered, nearly dropping the heavy bar on his chest. Anthony reacted quickly, grabbing onto it before it could fall and hurt Kris, and returned it to the slots.

"What? Date?" Kris managed, sitting up and ignoring his close call.

"Isn't that what you generally do on a first date, go out for dinner?" Anthony asked, grinning broadly.

"You mean... You want to..." Kris trailed off, standing and facing Anthony.

"Do this?" Anthony asked, closing the gap between him and Kris and kissing him roughly. Kris gasped into his lips, waiting a beat before responding to it. His hands came up to tangle in Kris's hair, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. They battled for dominance until Anthony finally broke away, gasping for air, lips tasting like sweat and Kris. "Yeah, I want to do that a lot," he said weakly, not at all smooth like he'd imagined.

Kris laughed, pulling him forward into another kiss. "Me too," he admitted, leaning his sweaty forehead against Anthony's.

"Ew, you're all gross and sweaty," Anthony teased, kissing him again. Now that he'd started, he was realizing that kissing Kris was extremely addictive. "What do you say we hit the showers?" He managed in between kisses.

"Propositioning me already?" Kris laughed, tangling their hands together and pulling him along towards the showers. "Bold move there, Rizz."

"I notice you're not saying no," Rizzo pointed out.

"Hard to say no to a face like yours," Kris said, grinning broadly. Anthony's heart fluttered at that smile, and he slammed Kris against the wall, roughly kissing him again.

"Even harder to say no to a smile like yours," he whispered, fully aware that he was being cheesy but not caring, as Kris captured his lips in yet another kiss.

"What the FUCK," a voice shouted suddenly, ruining Rizzo's 'kissing Kris Bryant haze' and causing the two of them to jump apart. Jake Arrieta had stopped halfway down the hall, dressed in his own workout gear and scowling fiercely. The look didn't have quite the same effect without his beard, but Rizzo's heart plummeted regardless. He had completely forgotten that anyone else might be here, and judging by Jake's reaction, this was the worst possible person to be here.

"Hi Jake," Kris managed weakly. "I thought you were in Texas?"

"I decided to come back for a week to visit some people while my wife and kids are visiting her family," Jake said. "What the fuck is your problem, guys?"

"Uh, what... What do you mean?" Anthony stuttered, trying to resist the urge to shrink back against the wall. Jake was his teammate, he shouldn't be afraid of him.

"You couldn't have done this the night we won the Series?" Jake demanded. "You lost me a ton of money on that bet."

"Hold on, you're upset because you lost a bet about this? You all made bets on when the two of us would get together?" Kris asked incredulously.

"Yeah, of course we did," Jake said, rolling his eyes. "When did you two actually get together? And do you want to kiss each other again so I can send a picture as proof to the rest of the team?"

"About ten minutes ago, and definitely not," Anthony said firmly. "Absolutely no pictures, I don't want those accidentally getting out somehow, and if they don't believe you, you'll just have to wait until spring training."

"Asshole," Jake grumbled, but he didn't seem truly angry. "I'll let you get back to sucking face, but one more thing-neither of you had better hurt the other one, because I'd feel kind of bad killing either of you."

"Um, thanks?" Kris said confusedly.

"You two heading for the showers?" Jake asked.

"Yeah," Anthony said, perplexed as to why he was asking.

"Don't worry about taking too long, I'll be quite a while," Jake said, lifting an eyebrow suggestively.

"Good to know," Anthony said, studiously avoiding Jake's gaze as he grabbed Kris's hand and pulled him determinedly down the hall. "Nice seeing you!"

"Well that was kind of a mood killer," Kris muttered as they got to the showers. He stripped efficiently, dropping his clothes in a pile and hanging up a towel on the hook.

"Was it now?" Anthony asked, following him into the shower. Kris turned to look at him after turning the water on, and Anthony took the opportunity to shove him against the wall and kiss him again.

"You really like doing that, don't you," Kris said, breaking away from him briefly to adjust the temperature of the chilly water.

"Why, do you mind?" Anthony asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Not at all," Kris said, pushing him into the wall this time and dropping to his knees.

 

It was a good thing Jake liked to work out for a long time, because Anthony was pretty sure he and Kris had spent quite a lot of time in the showers together. He said as much to Kris, who smacked him with his wet towel.

"Dude, were you seriously thinking about Jake during that?" He demanded, dropping the towel on Anthony's head and starting to get dressed.

"Definitely not," Anthony laughed, pulling the towel off his head and dropping it on the floor along with his own. He let his eyes rake appreciatively over Kris's body as he changed. "I don't think I was thinking during that."

"Good," Kris grinned suggestively. "That was exactly my intent."

"So, dinner at seven and then how about a repeat of that...workout?" Anthony asked.

Kris leaned forward to kiss him again briefly. "Absolutely."


End file.
